This is the first-ever competitive meeting between Sporting and Tottenham in any competition. Sporting are winless in all six of their Champions League matches against English sides, drawing one and losing five against Man Utd (two losses), Chelsea (two losses) and Man City (one draw and one loss).
They’ve lost all three home games without scoring a single goal. Spurs last faced Portuguese opponents in August 2021, winning 3-1 on aggregate against Paços de Ferreira in the Europa Conference League qualifying phase. They’ve not faced a Portuguese team in the European Cup for 60 years, since losing 4-3 on aggregate to Benfica in the 1961/62 semi-final.
Never before have won back-to-back games to start a Champions League campaign. Rúben Amorim can make history but without central midfielder Daniel Bragança and forward Jovane Cabral, both of whom are nursing respective injuries.
Nuno Santos, who came off the bench to score in that 0-3 win at Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt, is pushing for a start though chances are Amorim retains his front-three of Francisco Trincão, ex-Tottenham youth star Marcus Edwards and the club’s most valuable player Pedro Gonçalves.
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